Pelé: Birth of a Legend continues the soccer star's big screen legacy | Film | The Guardian Tribeca film festival Pelé: Birth of a Legend continues the soccer star's big screen legacy It’s clunky in places and has some very suspect accents, but the new biopic is far from the only own goal in the Brazilian legend’s on-screen back catalogue Pelé (Kevin de Paula) in Jeff and Michael Zimbalist’s Pelé: Birth of a Legend. Photograph: Ique Esteves Tuesday 10 May 2016 10.51 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 10 May 2016 13.01 EDT Share on Messenger Close Originally scheduled to appear in time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the long-delayed Pelé: Birth of a Legend – the first ever biopic of the soccer legend – is finally being released. Co-directed by American brothers Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, and executive produced by Pelé himself, the film unfolds like a superhero origin story crossed with a sporty riff on Slumdog Millionaire.

40 years on: how New York Cosmos lured Pelé to a football wasteland Read more Its first half charts 10-year-old Pelé’s hardscrabble existence alongside friends and family in the slums of São Paulo state; its second focuses on his rapid rise to prominence with the Brazil soccer squad, culminating in his team’s victory at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, when Pelé was just 17 . (Pelé scored twice in a 5-2 win over the Swedes, here clumsily portrayed as a swaggering battalion of Aryan Terminators.) Curiously, despite the film’s Brazilian setting, all its characters are fluent in English. This is presumably a ploy to enable the film to reach the widest possible audience, but it never stops being jarring. The weirdness factor only intensifies when Vincent D’Onofrio, the burly American star of Netflix’s Daredevil , pops up to portray Brazil’s under-pressure coach Vicente Feola. The actor’s Brazilian accent frequently strays, volubly and hilariously, into Al Pacino-in-Scarface territory.

Carlos Alberto’s classic World Cup goal for Brazil: brick-by-brick video animation Though the film is overly simplistic and often hackneyed (one might easily lose count of the number of sun-kissed training montages set to twinkly music), it’s rarely dull, and there are some interesting revelations. We discover, for example, that Pelé (born Edison Arantes do Nascimento), received his nickname from a rival child footballer and initially loathed it. The film-makers also deserve credit for addressing racism and classism in Brazilian society, and how these issues manifested themselves in heated debates over the efficacy of Brazil’s joyful, “primitive” style of soccer. Proceedings are further elevated by charismatic performances from the two young actors playing Pelé (first Leonardo Lima Carvalho, followed by Kevin de Paula), and the stirring presence of Brazilian superstar Seu Jorge (City of God) as Pelé’s taciturn, yet warm father. Pinterest Young Pelé (Leonardo Lima Carvalho) in the film. Photograph: Ique Esteves Near the end, Pelé himself contributes a brief, amusing cameo. Perhaps the film might’ve been improved by a more substantial appearance from Brazil’s record goalscorer.

After all, as the following examples show, Pelé has a surprisingly prolific record in front of the cameras. Pelé, the actor While still playing professionally for his club side Santos in Brazil, Pelé racked up an impressive list of acting credits. In 1969, he played an alien named Plínio Pompeu in The Strangers, a sci-fi TV show designed to drum up national interest in the Apollo moon landings. Two years later, he appeared briefly in the ribald, Benny Hill-esque sex comedy O Barão Otelo no Barato dos Bilhões , projecting stately authority as a suave doctor who comes to the financial aid of the film’s main character, a diminutive would-be playboy. Pelé’s most interesting early role, however, came in Osvaldo Sampaio’s period drama A Marcha (1970), which was set in the final years of Brazilian slavery . Pelé played the abolitionist Chico Bondade, a Scarlet Pimpernel-type freedman who infiltrated plantations to free slaves. Pinterest Sylvester Stallone and Pelé on the set of Escape to Victory.

Photograph: AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo After his retirement from soccer in 1977, Pelé reified his commitment to national, political cinema by appearing in Anselmo Duarte’s action-packed, blaxploitation-influenced drama Os Trombadinhas (1979). In his 1998 autobiography, Pelé wrote: “I especially liked [this film], and collaborated on the story for it. It was about the problem of abandoned children; a subject I cannot repeat often enough is close to my heart. I hoped the film would help get them off the streets, make something useful of them, for them and for society.” (Pelé also found time to contribute vocals to a couple of songs on the soundtrack of a 1977 documentary about him: he’s no Gilberto Gil, but his vocal stylings boast a certain calming trill.) In 1981, Pelé gave his highest-profile film performance to date, as Corporal Luis Fernandez in John Huston’s POW adventure Escape to Victory . Pelé’s involvement arose from a spin-off from his contract with Warner Communications, who owned the Warner Bros studio.

Of working on the film, Pelé’ wrote: “I’d come onto the pitch with the same passion that I had brought to real games … Huston used to shout, ‘Pele, relax! It’s a film, it has to be contained within the scene, the emotion has to be controlled …’ He was a cinematic genius.” He also threw some shade on co-star Sylvester Stallone: “I learned too that the ‘stars’ don’t always work democratically. Stallone, for example, wouldn’t let anyone else sit in his chair on the set.” In the Brazilian crime thriller Pedro Mico (1985), Pelé, as the titular Rio trickster, showed off some capoeira skills – and an impressively bushy moustache – in what would be his only lead role. After Pedro Mico, however, Pelé settled into a groove of appearing as himself in fictional films: a testament to both his star power, and his gift for self-marketing.

He re-teamed with John Huston for the syrupy orphanage fable A Minor Miracle (1983), grew a beard for and wept in 1987’s terminally cheesy soccer drama Hotshot; and, some years later, had a brief, funny turn in Britcom Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001). There are enough hints in Pedro Mico to suggest that Pelé could have had a more substantial acting career. But it seems, understandably, he decided that being the world’s greatest soccer player was more than enough. Pelé: The Birth of a Legend is on nationwide release in the US from Friday 13 May How and why Pele's mystique and reputation as the world's greatest ever footballer has been overhyped - Telegraph World Cup How and why Pele's mystique and reputation as the world's greatest ever footballer has been overhyped Jonathan Liew investigates: We are told Pele is the best but his record is overstated - he is a master of self-promotion and circumstance helped him achieve pre-eminence Pele is embraced by a pair of models Photo: REUTERS Follow “Why, Jesus?

Why are we being punished?” In 1962, a plane carrying the Brazilian football team was crossing the Andes on the way to the World Cup in Chile. Suddenly, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence, and started shaking violently. Dinner had just been served, and steaks were leaping off the plates. Pandemonium swept the cabin. This was only four years after the Munich air crash had claimed the lives of eight Manchester United players. In the middle of the consternation, as a plane full of footballers became convinced they were heading for a rocky grave, one man sat in a state of utter restfulness. His team-mates could scarcely believe their eyes. “You’re crazy!” they said. “Don’t you have family?” Related Articles Pele released from hospital 09 Dec 2014 In fact, Pele did have family. But he turned to face his colleagues. “What do you want me to do?” he asked calmly. The turbulence passed, and shrieking quickly turned to laughter. As Pele later wrote: “I believe in God. If we are going to die, then so be it.” The first key to understanding Pele is his faith.

Most Pele narratives inevitably fixate upon the extreme poverty in which he was raised, first in the southern state of Minas Gerais, and then in the poor Sao Paulo suburb of Bauru. Few deal in any great depth with the devout Catholicism that accompanied him every step of the way. As a child, he would not be allowed to play football in the street unless he went to mass, inextricably intertwining the two destinies in his young mind. When Pele was nine, Brazil lost to Uruguay in the final match of the 1950 World Cup, an event that traumatised the entire nation. The young Edson Arantes do Nascimento went to his father’s room, which was adorned with a picture of Jesus on the wall, and started wailing. "Why has this happened?” he screamed at the picture. “Why has it happened to us? Why, Jesus? Why are we being punished?” “I continued crying, overcome, as I continued my conversation with the picture of Christ,” he remembered. "You know, if I’d been there I wouldn’t have let Brazil lose the Cup.

If I’d been there, Brazil would have won.” Then he went back to his father and told him: “One day, I’ll win you the World Cup.” Pele’s faith remained undimmed in adulthood. “When I had problems,” he said, “I asked Him why He put me here, unless He wanted me to do good.” This clutch of anecdotes, probably grotesquely misleading, nonetheless reveals a little of how Pele has always seen himself. Not just as a subject of God – for that could be any of the world’s 1.2 billion Christians – but as his servant. From a very young age, Pele saw his role as one of doing the Almighty’s work on Earth. An artist's depiction of Pele as Jesus “In music there is Beethoven and the rest. In football there is Pele and the rest.” As Pele was brought up to believe unquestioningly in the potency and pre-eminence of God, so generations of football lovers were brought up to believe unquestioningly in the potency and pre-eminence of Pele. For decades, the fact that Pele was the greatest footballer that ever lived has simply been taken as gospel.

Despite the emergence of more recent challengers in Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele remains the reference point against which all are judged. Those who played with or against him, from Alfredo di Stefano to Ferenc Puskas to Franz Beckenbauer to Bobby Moore, queued up to anoint him as the greatest. As did Pele himself. “In music there is Beethoven and the rest,” he said in 2000. “In football, there is Pele and the rest.” But it is an orthodoxy that has permeated subsequent generations too. To take one example out of thousands, Cristiano Ronaldo once said: “Pele is the greatest player in football history, and there will only be one Pele.” By the time Ronaldo was born in 1985, Pele had already been retired for eight years. How can you call someone the greatest player of all time if you’ve barely seen them play? To be fair, there is a good deal of evidence in his favour. Only the merest fraction of his 1,283 goals (give or take a few) were recorded on film, but what does remain paints a compelling if incomplete portrait of a truly special footballer.

Lightning pace, effortless grace, immense poise, impressive power, supreme cunning and gigantic balls: all are on display. At the very least, there is enough footage to conclude that Pele was not simply Adam Le Fondre with a stepover. He really was astoundingly good at football. Then there is his record. Three World Cup victories in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Two Intercontinental Cups with Santos. Those 1,283 goals, of which 77 came for Brazil and 12 in the World Cup. But even as you list Pele’s achievements, it is possible to pick holes in them. Ali Daei of Iran is international football’s leading goalscorer, with 109 goals in 149 caps. This does not make him the greatest player of all time. Hundreds of Pele’s goals came in friendlies, against up-country teams or down-at-heel invitational sides. Pele scored against the very best, but he scored against the very worst too. His World Cup record, while impressive, is susceptible to overstatement.

Injury in 1962 means that effectively, he only really won two World Cups, and was not the outstanding player either time. In 1958, it was Didi who was voted player of the tournament, while in 1970, it was very much a team effort, with the likes of Tostao and Jairzinho at least as important. Pele’s home country has long been aware of this. Ask a Brazilian who is their greatest ever player and you are as likely to hear Heleno, Garrincha, Jairzinho or Zizinho mentioned. Pele’s multiple post-football careers, wayward predictions and often contradictory public statements have turned him into a figure frequently parodied, and occasionally disdained. “I believe that Pele knows nothing about football,” current Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said in 2002. “He has done nothing as a coach and all his analysis always turns out to be wrong. He’s an idol in all of Brazil, but his analysis is worth nothing.” “There is a sense that Pele belongs more to global heritage than he does to Brazil’s,” the Brazil-based writer Alex Bellos explained in his book Futebol.

“He is an international reference point, and one who is simple to understand: a poor black man who became the best in the world through dedication and skill. But Brazilians do not love him the way they love Garrincha.” Just a couple of weeks ago, Pele was criticised again for coming out against the recent political protests, describing them as “a great loss for the country”. Not for the first time, the arch conformist had shown himself to be out of touch with the skittish insurgency characterising the new Brazil. “I’ve already fought for my country. Surely I don’t need to do it again?” If you really boil it down, Pele’s legacy rests on those two World Cup wins. In 1958, he forced his way into the side halfway through the tournament as a 17-year-old, scoring a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and two goals in the final against Sweden. In 1970, he was the most famous player in perhaps the greatest side in international history. Later that decade, a survey showed that Pele was the second most-recognised brand name in Europe after Coca Cola.

What was interesting about Pele’s exaltation was how much of it was done in retrospect. Contemporary reports of the 1958 final clearly mention Pele, but reserve most praise for Garrincha, the most flamboyant player on the pitch. In the following months and years, though, the story of the 17-year-old kid from the poor background began to take an increasing hold. Books, films and newspaper articles began to accumulate. His club Santos, sensing they might have the box office draw of the century on their hands, took him out on tour, playing exhibition games all over the world. Pele played more than 100 games in 1959, including 15 in three weeks on a tour of Europe. By the early 1960s, he was regularly playing three times a week with extensive travelling in between. These tours served a dual function. Not only did they help to bulk up Pele’s record; they also spread the gospel. In hindsight, Brazil’s 1958 win, coming so soon after the disaster of 1950, came to be seen as the turning point for an emerging, confident nation.

“With the 1958 victory, Brazilians changed even physically,” wrote Nelson Rodriguez, the playwright who would go on to be one of Brazil’s most influential football writers in Brazilian history. “After 1958, the Brazilian was no longer a mongrel among men, and Brazil was no longer a mongrel among nations.” The young, upwardly-mobile Pele assumed the face of this new Brazil. Later still, the joyful, fluid 4-2-4 formation Brazil deployed in that tournament would be set in contrast to the “anti-football” that would emerge from Argentina in the mid-1960s. Pele takes a shot at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico It was a marvellous tale, and Pele fitted perfectly into it. He knew it too, unsuccessfully attempting to use his fame to lever himself out of doing national service at the age of 18. “I’ve already fought for my country,” he protested. “Surely I don’t need to go to the army to do it again?” In this country, it seems Pele’s myth was firmly established by 1964.

That was the year England went to the Maracana and were caned 5-1, with Pele scoring four goals. “ENGLAND BEWITCHED BY BLACK DIAMOND”, read the headline in The Times. The report was more effusive still: “This was fiesta, this was a reflection of the moving colour film, Black Orpheus; this was life; this was the night of Pele… it was worth being alive to see, even in defeat.” There is another factor to consider: television. The 1970 World Cup was the first to be broadcast worldwide in colour, and it was Pele’s great fortune to emerge just as mass media was catalysing an unprecedented explosion in the global scale of the game. Had he been born in 1920 rather than 1940, like the Botafogo genius Heleno de Freitas, it is likely almost no footage of him would have survived. And it is just as likely that like Heleno de Freitas, most people would never have heard of him. “Pele has no colour or race or religion.

He is accepted everywhere.” The Pele who would go on to describe himself as the Beethoven of football had still not emerged by 1963. “It wasn’t me who started people saying I’m the best player in the world,” he said in that year. “I’ve got nothing to do with it. I believe the greatest player hasn’t been born yet. He’d have to be the best in every position: goalie, defence, forward.” But what had begun to develop was an awareness of his own marketability. Following the 1958 World Cup, lucrative offers had flooded in from Europe, but he turned them all down, instead negotiating a deal with Santos by which he would receive half of any fee for playing an exhibition match abroad. He entrusted his financial affairs to a Spanish businessman called Pepe Gordo, who turned out to be downright useless: by 1966, pretty much all his investments had failed, and Pele was driven to the brink of bankruptcy. In retrospect, it was a formative experience. In order to clear his debts, Pele negotiated a new deal with Santos on unfavourable terms, and took much greater control over his financial affairs.

He signed a $120,000 deal with Puma to wear their boots, and during the 1970 World Cup was often to be seen very conspicuously stooping to tie his laces. It was the beginning of what one might describe as the Pele brand. Over the subsequent decades, Pele has used his face and name to promote everything from Hublot watches to Subway sandwiches to erectile dysfunction. Pele and swimmer Michael Phelps endorse Subway Now 73, his thirst for endorsements is as unquenched as ever. Some weeks, he will visit three or four continents doing promotional work. Bloomberg estimate the Pele brand will generate $25 million in revenue this year. “It’s not easy to separate Edson from Pele psychologically,” Pele wrote a few years ago. “Pele has taken on a life of his own. He overtook everything. I sense the dichotomy between Edson and Pele every time I take out my Mastercard. On one side is the image of me doing a bicycle kick together with the signature of Pele, and on the other is my real signature.” But none of this would have been possible without the tenacity of the original Pele legend.

The story of the poor black kid conquering the world is, essentially, what these companies are buying into. “Pele,” he says, “has no colour or race or religion. He is accepted everywhere.” It may or may not surprise you to know that Pele is a Mastercard ambassador. Pele on a Mastercard at the time of the 2002 World Cup “Who was I? What was I? Just a footballer? No, it had to be more than that.” Of course, everybody has to put food on the table. All athletes endorse products. But it is possible to identify a certain relish in Pele as he Hoovers up these sponsorship deals. He was not contractually obliged, for example, to include a plug for Mastercard in his autobiography. But he did it anyway. Why? Perhaps the answer lies in his character: rational, accumulative, fiercely competitive. Being the best at football was not enough in itself for Pele. After all, he was God’s servant. He had to conquer all he saw. “Who was I?” he would reflect. “What was I? Just a footballer?

No, it had to be more than that.” One of the preoccupations that comes through in Pele’s autobiography is race. For all his claims to be colourless and classless, being black shaped Pele’s view of the world, and the world’s view of him. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to ban slavery. Pele was only three generations removed from his slave ancestors. Even in 1966, his marriage to a white woman attracted negative comment from some newspaper columnists. The Brazil 1958 team were the first genuinely multiracial side to win the World Cup. “All the other teams had only white people,” he wrote later. “I thought it was really weird. I can remember asking my team-mates: ‘Is it only in Brazil that there are blacks?’” In these circumstances, then, perhaps it is not surprising that the narrative of the black boy rising above his disadvantaged station to smash open the “white” worlds of football and business held an intimate appeal for Pele. There is a proto-messianism to Pele’s self-image, especially when he feels he is not being sufficiently revered. “In America, Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King have wonderful memorial museums,” he wrote.

“But in Brazil, there is no Pele museum. There is something not right about that, it seems to me.” Pele in the film Once In A Lifetime This is how Pele saw himself – a cultural icon like Elvis, a great liberator like Dr King. It explains why he was so keen to shape his own legend. And it explains why he continues to take any paying gig. “People treat you differently when you have money and celebrity,” he wrote. “It is almost like a race apart – not black, or white, but famous.” In 2012, the Pele Museum was opened in Santos. “The truth is that I hate seeing dead bodies” Contrary to many impressions, Garrincha and Pele were not enemies. They were just different. But despite coming from similarly poor backgrounds, the differences between them could scarcely have been more pronounced. Bellos again: “Pele is revered. Garrincha is adored. Garrincha argued with the establishment. Pele became the establishment.” But many Brazilians will tell you that Garrincha was at least as good a footballer as Pele, if not better. Pele would beat a man because he had to.

Garrincha would do it because he wanted to. Garrincha virtually won the 1962 World Cup single-handedly. Pele could never claim that. But the one thing Garrincha was less good at was self-promotion. Garrincha had little time for business empires and product endorsements. He hardly ever did interviews. He never stayed in the public eye for long enough to develop a persona. What he wanted to do, above all else, was to get drunk and get laid. This he did with remarkable efficiency, fathering at least 14 children before dying of severe liver failure at the age of 49. Pele did not even attend his funeral. “The truth is that I hate seeing dead bodies,” he said by way of excuse. “I prefer to pray on my own.” Years later Diego Maradona took issue with Pele for this. “I would have liked him to look after Garrincha instead of letting him die broke,” he wrote. In truth, there was little anybody could have done to arrest Garrincha’s decline, but Maradona’s intervention opened up a new fault-line between the two players now generally regarded as the greatest ever.

Pele and Diego Maradona have never enjoyed a happy relationship “We never clicked,” Maradona said. “We always rubbed each other up the wrong way; we would see each other and sparks would fly.” A less charitable observer would say they turn into children around each other: a petty enmity that has diminished them both. Every couple of years the world is treated afresh to the sight and sound of the world’s two most respected footballers essentially trolling each other. Maradona describes Pele as looking like “a doll that’s being moved by remote control”. Pele accuses Maradona of going into coaching for the money. Maradona tells Pele he should be in a museum. Pele says Maradona must be in love with him. Maradona calls Pele gay. It’s simultaneously wonderful and awful. But here’s the point. There’s a reason why Pele and Maradona are always discussed as the two greatest footballers ever, and Garrincha isn’t even in the conversation. Garrincha’s not around to state his case. Perhaps it’s time to admit that greatness is two parts genius to one part salesmanship.

“A story in Brazil isn’t worth telling unless there are alternative versions to call upon.” There’s something in psychology called the “reminiscence bump”. You’ll be familiar with the concept. In essence, it’s the reason all your favourite books and favourite films and favourite albums are the ones from your youth. Your teens and your 20s are when your memory is at its most efficient, which is why memories from your youth tend to be the strongest of all. In 2012, three psychologists called Steve Janssen, David Rubin and Martin Conway decided to see if the effect extended to football. They asked more than 600 participants to name who they thought were the five greatest footballers of all time. Seeing as the questionnaire was presented in Dutch on the Amsterdam University website, perhaps it is little surprise that most people named Johan Cruyff (86 per cent), followed by Pele (56 per cent) and Diego Maradona (48 per cent). What was more interesting was who had named who. Pele was mentioned most frequently by people born between 1946 and 1955.

Cruyff was most popular amongst those born between 1956 and 1965. And if you were born between 1966 and 1975, chances are you said Maradona. The researchers matched up the age of the respondents with the career-midpoint of the players they had selected. The magic number was 17. That was the age at which the strongest impressions were made. In short, you’re more likely to rate a great player in your late teens than at any other stage of your life. Coincidentally, that was Pele’s age when he played in the 1958 World Cup. Perhaps that’s why he ended up as his own biggest fan. Source: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology But there’s a semi-serious point at the heart of all this. “A story in Brazil isn’t worth telling unless there are alternative versions to call upon,” writes Pele at the start of his autobiography, and in the indomitably stupid debate over the world’s greatest player lies a little of football’s maddening charm. And in retrospect, it’s easy to see why the generation that grew up with Pele was so keen to put him on a pedestal.

Of course he was a brilliant player, but maybe there’s something more sinister at work there too. The legend of Pele was bequeathed to each subsequent generation almost as a fait accompli, as if the debate over the world’s greatest ever footballer was over before most of us had even clapped eyes on this world. “Here, take Pele,” the older generation seemed to be telling us, “as lasting and incontrovertible proof that everything was better long ago. You are welcome.” But the virtue of youth is its resilience. Perhaps in a half-century from now, Pele’s name will be long forgotten, and our grandchildren will be embroiled in a similarly tedious debate about the relative merits of Lionel Messi and Ross Barkley. Every generation ultimately remakes its own truth. Bibliography Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way Of Life Andreas Campomar, Golazo!

A History of Latin American Football Ruy Castro, Garrincha Pele, My Life And The Beautiful Game Pele, The Autobiography The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, volume 65 Jonathan Wilson, Inverting The Pyramid Greatest Football Legends of All Time - Football's Greatest Football's Greatest Shop Football Legends The players listed in this website are all world class players - the greatest players in their position of all time. But only a select few can be counted amongst the much smaller category of 'Legends'. These are the iconic players that are the best the game has ever seen. They have represented the game - becoming household names even to those who do not follow it, they have transformed and expanded the game, and have seized the imagination of the world - often during a World Cup. Most of all they have acted as an inspiration to both fans and amateur and professional players and have inspired millions to follow, play and learn the game. These are the 20 greatest players the world has ever seen, in order. This always stirs lively debate so let us know what you think via our facebook page!

Zico Att ﻿Midfielder , Brazil & Flamengo/Udinese, 1970s/80s A Flamengo legend, Zico was also the star of the great Brazil team for the 1982 World Cup and one of the stars of that tournament. A creative midfielder with flair and an eye for goal, he was one of the best freekick takers of all time. His legend is tarnished somewhat by his, and the teams' lack of success in 1982, and his showing at the 1978 and 1986 tournaments - marred by injury and rarely selected to start games. At Flamengo he won the Copa Libertadores and then led his team to thrash Liverpool 3-1 in the Intercontinental Cup in 1981, giving Flamengo fair reason to claim the title of best club in the world, with him as their star player. Part of a great team: Brazil 1982 ﻿﻿ 19.

Marco Van Basten Striker , Netherlands & Ajax/AC Milan, 1980s/90s The greatest player of the late 80s/early 90s, Marco Van Basten managed to be named European Footballer of the Year three times before he retired at 28 due to injury. A complete striker with pace and great technique, he could score from virtually anywhere.. He scored 128 goals in 133 games for Ajax and then moved to AC Milan where he helped them to win two European Cups (1988, 1989). At Milan he was playing alongside his Dutch team mates Ruud Gullit and Frank Rjkaard, with whom he had won Euro 88, scoring one of the best goals ever scored in the final against the USSR. Sadly he missed Milan's 1994 European Cup win and never played in a World Cup. Striker , Brazil & PSV/Barca/Flamego An instinctive and natural goalscorer, Romario was the best player of the 1994 World Cup, inspiring Brazil to win the trophy.

After five seasons at PSV Eindhoven he moved to join Cruyff's dream team at Barcelona in 1993 and played in the European Cup Final of 1994, losing to AC Milan but being named European Footballer of the Year. He ended his career at a succession of Brazilian clubs. While he was at Vasco de Gama he scored twice against Manchester United in the Club World Championship, beating them 3-1. He scored his 1000th goal at Vasco de Gama in 2007, where there is now a statue of him. With 55 goals in 70 appearances for Brazil he was one of their best ever strikers. He formed a lethal partnership with Ronaldo, winning the 1997 Copa America but then missed out on the 1998 World Cup due to injury. Who knows, if he had played Brazil could well have won the World Cup, again that year. Part of a great team: Barcelona 1989-1994 17.

Lev Yashin Goalkeeper , Russia & Dynamo Moscow, 1950s/60s You might presume that goalkeepers always commanded their defence, came off their line to intercept crosses and rushed out of the area to challenge attackers. They didn't, and they do now largely because of Lev Yashin. He reinvented the art of goalkeeping while playing for the Soviet Union and presented this to the world at the 1958 World Cup. Dressed all in black and known as the Black Panther, he was the star of the team, impressing with his athleticism. He was also a master of saving penalties, saving 150 in his career. He won the European Championship of 1960 and would appear in four World Cups. He also helped Dynamo Moscow win 5 Soviet League titles. Yashin is the only goalkeeper to win European Footballer of the Year (1963). He is an automatic pick in goal for every all-time dream team and the World Cup award for best goalkeeper is now named after him.

Defensive Midfielder , Uruguay & Penarol/Nacional Andrade might be the only member of this list that you have not heard of but he fully deserves his place here. He is the greatest star of the pre-war years and did more than anyone to make football the popular global game it is today. Andrade was the star, from a right half-back position, of the great Uruguay team of the 1920s. The team won the Olympic Games twice, which is recognised by FIFA as being equivalent to a World Cup (as there was no World Cup in this period) in both 1924 and 1928. Andrade also helped his country win three South American Championships. Despite suffering from illness and being near the end of his career he was then the star player of the team that won the first proper World Cup in 1930. At the 1924 Olympics in Paris Andrade drew out the locals in great numbers with his graceful, athletic midfield game. He stayed behind after the tournament to be the toast of French high society. Despite his fame and success he would live his later years in poverty and alcoholism. His story is a fascinating one. 15.

Eusebio Striker , Portugal & Benfica, 1960s The only player from Africa on this list - born in Mozambique, Eusebio played for the colonial power Portugal. He led his adopted country to a World Cup semi-final in 1966 and was the undisputed star of this tournament, becoming a household name with remarkable performance scoring four goals against North Korea. This came within a period of success at club level. He was brought to Portugal by Benfica, one of the greatest club sides of the 1960s. They won the European Cup without him in 1962 but he then became their star player, leading them to a second European Cup victory in 1962, scoring twice to beat Di Stefano’s Real Madrid in the Final. Eusebio went on to lead Benfica to two more European Cup Finals but failed to regain the trophy, losing to Inter Milan in 1965 and Manchester United in 1968. He was named European Footballer of the Year for his contribution in 1965.. A phenomenal goalscorer, he would finish his career with 423 club goals in 431 games.

Part of a great team: ﻿Benfica 1960s﻿ Att. Midfielder , England & Man Utd, 1950s-70s England’s greatest ever player and still the record goalscorer for both his country and Manchester United. His club career is one of great personal triumph. He had just cemented a place in the famous Busby Babes side, he was certainly not their greatest player, but was one of the very few that then survived the Munich Air Disaster and continued to play to his growing potential. He would go on to become captain and key player for United, forming part of a ‘holy trinity’ alongside George Best and Denis Law. A forward that dropped back into midfield he nevertheless maintained a formidable scoring record. He was two footed, capable of beating a player and had a remarkable, thunderous shot, claiming him many goals from deep positions. From an early age he was also a key player for England. After impressing at the 1962 World Cup he would be his country’s inspirational player when they won the trophy in 1966, being named European Footballer of the Year that year.

Two years later he would win the European Cup with United, helping to lay the ghosts to Munch to rest. In 1970 he continued his impressive international career, being named in the team of the tournament despite his advancing age. He remains a United legend with a seat on the Board, and is a great global ambassador of the game. Att. Midfielder , France & St Etienne/Juventus, 1970s/80s France's inspiration and the leading player of European footballer in the early/mid 1980s. Platini was an attacking midfielder with a goalscoring ratio that any striker would be proud of. He was an elegant passer of the ball and a great free-kick taker. He would lead and organise his team from midfield and his play showed great intelligence. Between 1983 and 1985 Platini led his country to victory in the 1984 European Championships, won the European Cup with Juventus and was named European Footballer of the Year three times in succession.

He impressed in both the 1982 and 1985 World Cups, reaching the semi-final and being named in the team of the tournament on both occasions. His greatest moment was leading France to European victory in 1984. He scored 9 goals in the tournament, and remains the competitions record goalscorer, despite playing in only one tournament. Part of a great team: ﻿ France 1982-86 ﻿ 12. George Best Right/Left Winger , N. Ireland & Man Utd, 1960s/70s Named by Pele as his greatest player of all time, one only has to watch footage of Best and it ishard not to agree. A great dribbler and goalscorer Best was the first superstar footballer in England and the greatest star in a famous United team (that also included Charlton). His talent was confirmed to the world with his exploits in the European Cup, in which he showcased his ability in 1966 and then inspired his club to win in 1968, earning him a European Footballer of the Year award.

A natural player who loved to entertain, and who fans, and team-mates, never knew what to expect next. He played with verve and imagination and celebrated the best that football could be. He was also brave and would not be intimidated by the hard men of the era. One can only imagine what he could have achieved if he played on the pitches, and with the protection given by referees, of today Two-footed, Best could play on either wing; he also worked hard for his club and was a good tackler. In the early 1970s, when United were in decline he almost single-handedly maintained their position as a great club. The pressure became too much, and he fell to alcoholism. He may have retired from United at the age of 27 but he had burst into the first team at 17, and so enjoying a lengthy career there, winning all he could win personally and for the club. Best then moved to the US where he continued to wow crowds, on his good days, with astonishing football.

Playing for Northern Ireland, it is understandable that he never played at a World Cup, and so never had the opportunity to be measured directly against the all-time great which sit higher than him on this list. ﻿﻿11. Cristiano Ronaldo﻿﻿ Winger/Striker , Portugal & Man Utd/Real Madrid, 2000s/10s A modern day great that sits comfortably alongside past legends. Ronaldo was signed at 18 by Manchester United after impressing in a pre-season friendly and would go on to inspire the club to three league titles and a European Cup win in 2008. Always an exciting dribbler gifted with pace, United transformed him from an out-and-out winger to a more complete player that drifted infield and scored a phenomenal number and range of goals. He is also a great free-kick and penalty taker. After moving to Real Madrid he would continue his astonishing goal record, despite mostly starting from wide positions, and he continues to perform with remarkable consistency. Becoming the key player in a great side he lit up La Liga with a personal rivalry with Lionel Messi, leading his club to a tenth European Cup win in 2014.

It is his misfortunate to share the stage with the slightly superior Messi but Ronaldo is still one of a select number of players to win the Ballon d'Or three times (once with Manchester United). He may be more comfortable in the limelight, and perhaps driven by egotism, but he has always matched his talent with great dedication and won the respect and admiration of his teammates. Now surely Portugal’s greatest ever player, Ronaldo has played in three World Cups but unfortunately disappointed in all of them, otherwise he would have been higher in this list. Part of a great team: Man Utd 1999-2009 ... now see the Top 10 : Brazil Football Legend Pele To Marry For 3rd Time At 75 - Indiatimes.com Brazil Football Legend Pele To Marry For 3rd Time At 75 3K SHARES July 10, 2016 3K SHARES For Pele, 3 seems to be a lucky number. He won three World Cups with Brazil and now is set to tie the knot for the 3rd time.

AFP At 75, the Brazilian footballer is set to tie the knot a third time this Tuesday with Marcia Cibele Aoki, his girlfriend of six years. Aoki, 42, is a businesswoman and the couple started dating in 2010. The couple had originally met in New York in the 1980s, but became romantically much decades later when they crossed paths in an elevator in Sao Paulo. AFP Japanese by origin, Aoki has been seen by Pele’s side at nearly all his public appearances since 2012, including his repeated hospital visits in recent years. They had intended to marry a few years ago, but Pele’s suffering health delayed it. Reuters Pele played for Brazil 91 times between 1957 and 1971. He has scored 1281 goals in 1363 games. His previous two marriages lasted over a decade each. He has three children with his first wife and two with his second. With inputs from AFP. Don't Miss Pele Set To Visit Nigeria Aug. 11.2016 - Sports - Nigeria 1 Like Re: Pele Set To Visit Nigeria Aug.

11.2016 by Rednaxelot : 10:46pm On Jul 17, 2016 His first appearance in Nigeria was in 1967, during the Nigeria civil war. Following a 2-day armistice, football lovers in the country had the opportunity to witness Pele play against Santos, in an exhibition match held in Lagos. Thank God all forms of kidnapping, "avenging", "IPOBing", "Boko haraming", " herdsmening", pipeline vandalism and terrorism will cease for the period Pele will be in Nigeria. It happened in 1967 during the civil war, it can still happen again! 5 Likes Re: Pele Set To Visit Nigeria Aug. 11.2016 by robosky02 (m): 11:15pm On Jul 17, 2016 the power of pele hope it happens again 6 Likes Re: Pele Set To Visit Nigeria Aug.

11.2016 by robosky02 (m): 11:23pm On Jul 17, 2016 During the Nigerian civil war otherwise known as the Biafran war, which lasted from 1967 to 1970 Pele left a mark on the hearts of his fans as both biafran and the Nigerian warring parties wanted to see him play. The game was played on 22nd January 1967. During the Nigerian Civil war, a 48 hour ceasefire was declared by the two warring countries (Nigeria and Biafra) in the war just to watch Pele play football. On this exact date, January 26 1969 at Onikan Stadium Lagos, southwest Nigeria which was then known as King George V Stadium,Pele played for Santos FC of Brazil in a friendly game against a Nigerian FA selected team. The match ended a 2-2 draw with Pele scoring the 2 goals for Santos FC on Nigerian soil. Pele last international game for Brazil, was a 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia on July 18, 1971.

Then On October 1, 1977 , Pele played his last game as a footballer, Santos vs New York Cosmos at the Giants Stadium. 2 Likes Re: Pele Set To Visit Nigeria Aug. 11.2016 by robosky02 (m): 9:29am On Jul 18, 2016 Nigeria a land of Opportunities were all the Greats want to visit lets go there lalasticlala Neymar: Brazil's World Cup Soccer Savior When the World Cup starts today, 200 million Brazilians will invest all their hopes of victory in a player who is the best the country has produced for a generation + READ ARTICLE Soccer may be a team sport but when the World Cup kicks off today with the opening game between Brazil and Croatia all Brazilian eyes will be on one man, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior . The 22-year-old Brazilian carries the weight of expectation of 200 million home fans to whom anything less than victory in the tournament will be a crushing disappointment.

Neymar – he is known only by his first name – is hailed as the best Brazilian soccer player to have emerged in the last decade and his dazzling skills are considered indispensible to Brazil’s chances to bag the World Cup for a record sixth time. “This is the first time in the history of Brazilian football that the team’s attack is dependent on just one player,” soccer legend Pelé told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. “If Neymar isn’t playing well, Brazil might play well but they won’t win,” says Rai Souza Vieira de Oliveira, a former Brazil captain. “Neymar’s performances will be the deciding factor.” That’s a lot of responsibility – and pressure – for one young man to bear, but Neymar appears unfazed. “I’m going to play the World Cup, in my own country. I can’t see that as pressure. It has to give me pride and happiness to take onto the pitch,” he told Red Bulletin magazine this week. Brazil’s number 10 actually seems to thrive on being the center of attention.

As a teenage player for the Brazilian club Santos, he stood out not just for his spectacular dribbles and goals but because he wore his hair in a large mohican with bleached blonde highlights. He conveys the image of a mischievous, carefree scamp, a cheeky but charming joker. Nor is he shy about capitalizing on his role as Brazil’s great soccer hope. His face stares at you almost everywhere you go in Brazil. He advertises more than a dozen products – including soda, a bank, a car manufacturer, batteries, sunglasses, a perfume, a smartphone app, phones, ice cream and sports gear. This month he is also on the cover of Brazilian Vogue in a joint photo-shoot with supermodel Gisele Bündchen. His detractors call this “Neymarketing”. Neymar was just 11 when he joined the youth divisions of Santos. Already tipped as a future star, aged 13 he travelled to Spain for a trial with Real Madrid, the richest soccer team in the world, but turned them down so he could stay at home. He played his first professional game aged 17 and within a year was feted as the best player in Brazil.

He was so thin that his coach described him having a physique of a butterfly, but even so was able to dribble past defenders and score stunning goals. He had the improvisation, exhibitionism and playfulness of the great players of the past. Brazilians see Neymar as a savior. “Neymar’s style of play, both aesthetically generous and ruthlessly efficient, has recovered like no other the art at the core of genuine Brazilian football,” writes Paulo Vinicius Coelho in his biography of Neymar. “We had begun to doubt our capacity to produce players who can truly honour this rich tradition. We even began to fear for our footballing identity.” Neymar’s ability to remind Brazilians of their greatest, most stylish players and teams has made him outlandishly popular. Once his security guards had to lock him in an airport toilet to protect him from fans, the so-called Neymarzetes. He fuels the popularity through his use of social media, keeping 5.4 million Instagram followers up to date with his wardrobe, hairstyles and tattoos. “Some might think it’s tacky, but Neymar’s style is authentic.

He is always inventing new ways to present himself and stand out,” Fabiana Moritz, fashion editor of Brazilian Playboy, told the Estado de S. Paulo. When he was 18, Neymar’s performances in the Brazilian league attracted more offers from the big European clubs. He chose to rebuff them a second time, making him the first great Brazilian player since the 1980s to stay in Brazil, turning him into even more of a national hero. Yet by staying in Brazil he was also limiting his career, since the top players all play in Europe. Finally, after four seasons in Brazil, last year he transferred to Barcelona. Shortly before he arrived in Europe, he was the heart of the Brazil team that won the 2013 Confederations Cup, winning the Golden Ball for best player. But in his first season in Spain he has been overshadowed by others: his teammate the Argentinian Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo, the current FIFA world player of the year, at Real Madrid. Neymar’s job now is to prove that he’s the real deal on the biggest stage of all. A nation’s happiness depends on it. Bellos is the author of Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life

Question: Brazilian football legend Pele always wore which number
Answer: Ten